Roar.
My husband, the monster:
Did you know I was once married to Frankenstein? It’s true! Long before Bella Swan made it fashionable to marry a ghoul, Frankie and I had a one-night stand. I dressed up as the Bride of Frankenstein for Halloween and created a stuffed monster “husband” to carry around all night.
In case you’re curious, here’s a photo of us.
Although we didn’t stay married long (irreconcilable differences), I think Frankenstein would approve of the following mint-chocolate cupcake recipe. Whole-grain, and lower in fat and sugar, these are much healthier than your average cupcakes. And yet, they taste just as delicious.
As I said in yesterday’s post, these cupcakes were made for a good friend’s kindergarten class. I so wanted to throw some spinach in them, to see how they’d turn out. But I didn’t have enough time to make a second batch if the experiment failed.
If anyone is feeling adventurous, please do try adding spinach… and let me know how it goes!!
Monster Mint-Chocolate Cupcakes
(Makes 12 cupcakes)
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder (regular or dutch)
- 1 cup flour (I used white-whole-wheat. You can use all-purpose, spelt, or even ww pastry.)
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup sugar or evaporated cane juice
- 1 and 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 and 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp pure peppermint extract (or 1/2 tsp, if you only want a very-slight mint taste)
- 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt of choice (such as SoDelicious)
- 1/4 cup applesauce
- 3 tbsp oil (coconut or veg or canola oil)
- optional: add a few handfuls chocolate chips to the batter!
- 1/2 cup milk of choice
Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix dry ingredients, then add wet. Don’t overmix. Pour into cupcake liners or tins, and bake for 18-20 minutes. (Mine took 19 minutes.) Nutrition Facts per cupcake: Each cupcake will have around 130 calories and three grams of fat, depending on what yogurt you use.
Cupcakes in the photos are topped with this recipe: Mint Chocolate Chip Frosting.
For a Mint-Chocolate Parfait:
Try crumbling this over Mint-Chocolate-Chip Ice Milk.
Or skip the parfait idea and just cover these babies in devilishly-delicious green frosting. With chocolate chips. Don’t forget the chocolate chips.
Question of the Day:
Do you remember any of your childhood Halloween costumes?
Some of mine: a Martian beauty queen, devil in a blue dress, purple-people-eater, monster chef, dust bunny (French maid with bunny ears), sand witch (sandwich), and “Indecisive” (where I wore a little bit of everything I could find. That one was really fun). I always hope that one of my friends will throw a party, so I have an excuse to still dress up even though I’m obviously way too old for trick-or-treating. I still have no idea what I’m going to wear to this year’s Halloween party.
Ros says
These look sooo good! My hubby loves choc mint, and so do I. Well frankly anything chocolatey and cakey wins my vote. My question is, what can I sub for yoghurt? I’m dairy ( and wheat) intolerant so have coconut milk and nuts on hand, but no dairy free yoghurt. I wanted to make these tonight for my friend’s birthday tomorrow. A fellow dairy avoider, she is sure to love the fact she can eat cake! Please can you help and suggest something? Silken tofu maybe? Thanks CCC, your recipes rock! X
Megan says
First, I absolutely ADORE your site. (: It’s brilliant! I was vegan for a year, and if I had known your site had existed back then, I probably could have easily continued with veganism. But these cupcakes look sooo amazing! I’m going to HAVE to make them when I get a chance. (: Mint is my favorite.
Violet says
Hi Katie,
I was wondering if the spinach replaces anything in this (or any) cupcake recipe, would I need to modify or omit any ingredients to add spinach? Or does adding spinach simply add colour and healthy nutrients?
Thanks! Love the blog by the way, such an inspiration!
Unofficial CCK Helper says
Just add a little in. No need to replace anything.
Maddy says
Does anyone know what a substitute for the yogurt could be (preferably cheap)? I don’t normally buy yogurt, and I don’t want to buy some just for a half cup:)
Anonymous says
If you want the frosting to taste more like mint ice cream, use mint extract instead of peppermint extract. Yum! 🙂
Louisa says
These look good. But they seem like muffins. They aren’t as airy, light, and delicately-crumbed as cupcakes are. Are they more cake-like or do they taste more muffin-like?
Kylie says
Hello there, Two days ago we made these cakes, with a few changes, buckwheat, chick pea & arrowroot flours instead of the regular one & no cornflour & it worked! I had to bake them a bit longer, but I & even my very skeptical girls & husband were impressed. Thank you SO much for all your energy & efforts made on behalf of all of us at home not having the time or energy to do all the experimenting! I’ll be making these again & again!
Merci encore…